THE Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) hopes to see an increase in the national healthcare budget to 5% of the country’s GDP to truly reflect the government’s strong commitment to reforms in the healthcare system.
For many years, we have been managing with a miniscule amount, yet have been delivering a high quality of care.
However, our facilities are ageing, and there are shortages in manpower that are stretching the system.
A substantial amount will be needed especially to address the manpower shortage in public healthcare facilities.
We still have a long way to go in addressing the issue of contract doctors. We hope the current 1,500 permanent positions for next year could be doubled.
We also hope there will be increased allocations to support specialisation programmes.
Emphasis is needed in this area to address both the acute shortages in specialists and to ensure Malaysia is equipped with specialisations that will be in high demand when the country reaches ageing nation status.
In 2030, Malaysia will reach ageing nation status, where 15% of the population will be 60 years or older.
Ageing public healthcare facilities will need funds for maintenance and upgrades. Although most of the facilities are ageing, the MMA proposes that a proper assessment be done to determine which facilities need to be given priority.
New facilities are also needed especially to reach rural communities and ensure equal distribution of healthcare services nationwide in line with the aims of ensuring Universal Health Coverage.
The deep interiors of Sabah and Sarawak are where these efforts are needed the most. There is also a need for a respiratory centre in Kedah.
We hope funds will also be injected into the setting up of specialised centres in the north and south of Peninsular Malaysia, as there are still patients travelling to KL and Selangor for certain specialist care services.
However, development of manpower must be made in tandem with building of infrastructure to avoid “white elephants” in the form of unutilised infrastructure due to a lack of manpower.
If there are new facilities being built, we will also need roads and other conveniences for access.
This supporting infrastructure should not be coming out of the healthcare budget, but perhaps budgeted under relevant ministries, such as the housing and local government ministry.
Medicine security is even more crucial now, as evidenced by the current prolonged disruption of medical supply in the country. Attention must be given to this important area in the planning of the 2023 healthcare budget.
The Health Ministry could also look into investing in our own R&D to enable us to reduce dependency on foreign pharmaceuticals.
In line with the ministry’s plan to give workers an additional day of leave to undergo health screening, the government could also increase the current tax incentives for working adults to further encourage them to go for health screening.
We hope there will also be allocations to enhance primary care delivery in government healthcare facilities and in the private sector through public private collaborations.
The 8,000 over private GPs nationwide, as witnessed during the pandemic, have an important role in the country’s healthcare system.
The government should take advantage of this wide distribution of private GP clinics in the delivery of healthcare through programmes for the communities.
More allocations are also needed for public health for the prevention of communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases (NCD) and for health promotion, and enforcement under the Health Ministry’s Inspectorate Unit.
MMA is deeply concerned with the rising cases of NCDs.
To encourage Malaysians to adopt a healthy lifestyle, the government should increase the tax incentives for those regularly engaging in sports and fitness activities, as well as for purchases of sports equipment. – The Vibes, September 16, 2022
Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai is the president of the Malaysian Medical Association
